Creation Care
God has placed the care of the earth into our hands. The people of St. Stephen’s Church seek to be good stewards of God’s creation.
O merciful Creator, your hand is open wide to satisfy the needs of every living creature: Make us always thankful for your loving providence; and grant that we, remembering the account that we must one day give, may be faithful stewards of your good gifts; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Collect for the Stewardship of Creation
The Book of Common Prayer
Creation Care Committee
A group of parishioners and staff meet regularly to explore ways to improve our environmental practices as individuals and as a parish community, and make recommendations to our vestry. Activities have included:
- Hosting films at St. Stephen’s as part of Richmond’s environmental festival;
- Bringing speakers to the church for the entire community;
- Planting and tending a pollinator garden (pictured);
- Offering electronics recycling events;
- Hosting an environmental book group;
- Writing articles on environmental/spiritual concerns for St. Stephen’s magazine Seasons of the Spirit.
These are just some of the ways we demonstrate our commitment to this work. If you would like to be part of these efforts please let us know. Parishioners serving as the group’s conveners are Sue Wootton and Bill Gray; the staff liaison is Anna Jones.
Parish Practices
In addition to the work of the creation care committee, the parish has initiated several ministries, practices, and projects to address environmental concerns.
- In 2018, we installed a solar array on the roof of the parish house which not only reduces dependence on fossil fuels but prolongs the life of the roof.
- We established our farmers market in part to allow members of the community to purchase local food and reduce their carbon footprint. We also work with community partners such as Shalom Farms to enlarge these efforts.
- Our café uses reusable, recyclable, and compostable utensils, dishes, and cups, and provides different receptacles for each kind of waste.
- We purchase items for our café and our kitchen from local sources whenever possible, include coffee and tea from Rostov’s Coffee and Tea here in Richmond.
- Recycling receptacles are positioned throughout the campus, and we contract with a composting company that can accept more materials than can usually be composted in typical home composter. This reduces waste throughout our parish house and especially in the kitchen where we prepare community suppers and receptions as well as foods to be sold in the May Fair House.
Pollinator Garden
St. Stephen’s Church volunteers and staff planted a pollinator garden several years ago, and they continue to tend this garden and as it grows and flourishes. The following article by JoAnne Palmore, published in the spring 2023 issue of Seasons of the Spirit, describes this effort. She wrote it as the effort was getting underway, but now the garden is well established.
The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.–Genesis 2:15
Caring for the earth has increasingly become a matter of grave concern throughout the world. St. Stephen’s Church has responded to this challenge by deepening its commitment to environmental stewardship. Our creation care project team has been very active in providing educational offerings to raise awareness, participating in outreach activities to address environmental concerns in the community, and instigating changes to our buildings and grounds to reduce the strain on natural resources.
Last spring the group proposed to the vestry that the funds raised from their electronics recycling effort be used to plant a pollinator garden in the strip of land just off the parking lot, running about 100 feet down the alley. This seemed like an outstanding way to help address the urgent environmental issue of a declining pollinator population and at the same time enhance St. Stephen’s lovely grounds.
A pollinator can be a bee, beetle, wasp, butterfly, moth, hummingbird, bat or even a small mammal. We often forget how vital these small creatures are to the health of our planet. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, about 75 percent of the world’s flowering plants and about 35 percent of the world’s food crops need pollination to reproduce. Scientists estimate that one out of every three bites of food we eat is dependent on pollination. In addition, pollinators support healthy ecosystems that clean the air, stabilize soils, and support other wildlife. Clearly, we need pollinators to maintain a healthy world.
Yet pollinator populations are dwindling at a rapid rate due to urban sprawl, pesticides, disease and climate change. Some studies indicate that as much as forty percent of the insect world faces extinction. Fortunately, this alarming trend can be reversed if we all do our part…and St. Stephen’s is eager to do just that!
Thus, a band of enthusiastic gardeners—both amateur and professional—formed a pollinator garden committee and began meeting last summer. Throughout the fall, the committee addressed the major challenges to creating this garden, especially the steep slope to the land, access to a spigot for watering, quality of the soil, ongoing maintenance, and fundraising.
After much discussion, committee member Diana Crook, a professional landscape designer, created an outstanding conceptual garden plan which captures all the features the committee discussed as being essential, including emphasis on native plants, incorporation of a variety of plants that bloom from early spring into late fall, shade and drought tolerance, low maintenance, and most importantly, good sources of food and shelter for pollinators. Plus, it will be naturally beautiful!
We hope that implementation will begin this spring and proceed in stages. First the smaller shrubs and trees will be planted to anchor the site, followed by native perennials to provide food and habitat for pollinators, and finally, annual plants to add color and attract pollinators to the site. We need many hands to achieve this important goal, especially with fundraising, planting and maintenance. If you are interested in becoming involved, please contact the creation care committee through staff liaison Anna Jones.
JoAnne Palmore is a long-time member of St. Stephen’s Church and an avid gardener. For many years she was a May Fair House manager.